Eating slower could help you avoid feeling hungry right after a meal, according to a new study.
It could also decrease the number of calories consumed for people of regular weight. However, the researchers from Texas Christian University found that this calorie effect does not apply to those who are overweight or obese.
“A lack of statistical significance in the overweight and obese group may be partly due to the fact that they consumed less food during both eating conditions compared to the normal-weight subjects,” study researcher Meena Shah, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Kinesiology, said in a statement. “It is possible that the overweight and obese subjects felt more self-conscious, and thus ate less during the study.”
Published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, seventy people, including 35 people of regular weight and 35 overweight or obese people, participated in the two-day study.
On both days of the study, the participants ate lunch in a metabolic kitchen, where their energy speed, eating rate, energy density and satiety were all measured. For one of the lunches, participants were instructed to eat slowly (by imagining they had all the time in the world to eat, chewing thoroughly, putting utensils down between each bite and taking small bites), whereas for the other lunch, they were told to eat quickly (by imagining they had to finish eating by a certain time, chewing quickly, taking big bites and not putting the utensils down between each bite).
The results? The normal-weight participants consumed 88 fewer calories when they were instructed to eat slowly. Although the obese and overweight participants also consumed lesser calories (55 calories), this was not statistically significant.
Both the groups didn’t feel as hungry 60 minutes after eating slowly than they did after eating quickly. The normal-weight participants also reported greater feelings of fullness after eating slowly, compared with after eating quickly.
The two groups also drank more water during the meal when eating slowly, as compared to when eating quickly. The researchers noted that this increased water consumption could have an impact on the lesser calorie consumption.
Additionally, according to the study, “The slow eating condition may also have allowed subjects to eat more mindfully and better sense their feelings of hunger suppression and satiety,” researchers wrote in the study. “Another mechanism may be that foods that are eaten slowly remain in the oral cavity for a longer period of time and lead to increased orosensory exposure that may be related to lower food intake.”
The next time you eat, make sure not to rush and enjoy your food at a snail’s pace. For all you know, doing so will help you shed some unwanted pounds too!
[Source]
